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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031763">Other Side of Someday</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlights_glow/pseuds/moonlights_glow'>moonlights_glow</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Other Side of Someday [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, SORRY YALL, it's an angst fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:27:01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,807</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlights_glow/pseuds/moonlights_glow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After (Y/N) and Spencer break up, the dynamic of the team changes.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Spencer Reid/Reader, The BAU Team &amp; Reader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Other Side of Someday [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105043</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>55</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Other Side of Someday</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“The saddest thing about love is that not only the love cannot last forever, but even the heartbreak is soon forgotten.”</p><p>~William Faulkner </p><p> </p><p>You and Spencer Reid didn’t start your relationship in a very conventional way. After the “death” of Emily Prentiss, you and Spencer turned to each other for comfort as you mourned for your friend. Shockingly, Spencer made the first move. He was over at your apartment and the two of you were watching a movie, trying to ignore the pain of losing a woman you both saw as a big sister and friend. Seemingly out of nowhere, Spencer kissed you. You’d been friends with Spencer for nearly five years, and you’d had a crush on him for almost as long. </p><p> </p><p>Your relationship strengthened the BAU. You and Spencer were practically joint at the hip and your thoughts bounced off the other. Your relationship lasted for a little over a year, before everything changed. </p><p> </p><p>Spencer drew away from you. He already wasn’t big on PDA, but even in the privacy of your own apartments he didn’t hold you or kiss you like he used to. That was your first clue things weren’t right. The next sign was when he seemed to avoid you whenever he could.</p><p> </p><p>You cornered him on the way back to the hotel after a long day working a case. </p><p> </p><p>“Spence, what’s going on?” You asked, grabbing his wrist as he made his way to the door. </p><p> </p><p>He wrenched his arm out of your grasp. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, come <em> on </em>, Spencer. Do you think I’m stupid?”</p><p> </p><p>“No, of course not, I-”</p><p> </p><p>“Then tell me why you’ve been acting so weird lately!”</p><p> </p><p>Spencer sighed. “I think we should break up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh.” You were silent for a beat, trying to figure out how to respond. “Okay.”</p><p> </p><p>“Okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, yeah. I mean, when one person wants to break up, you break up. Just… Can I ask why?”</p><p> </p><p>“I just,” he sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I don’t think our relationship should go any further.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh. Okay. Well, I’m going to ride back to the hotel with Hotch and Rossi,” you said before ducking out of the precinct. </p><p> </p><p>Thankfully, the case didn’t last much longer, and you were able to keep your personal issues out of the case. Unfortunately, though, you were surrounded by profilers. When JJ noticed you picking at the salad you’d picked up, she sat next to you. </p><p> </p><p>“What’s going on with you? Are you okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know, Jayje. Spencer and I broke up.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, (Y/N).” She wrapped her arms around you, pulling you into a hug as her Mom Instincts™ kicked in. “I’m sorry, I know how much you love him.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’ll be fine,” you assured her, shrugging out of her arms. “It hasn’t affected my job, and I’m not going to let it.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>You know that feeling when you’re on a roller coaster and it drops suddenly? That was how you felt when you discovered the real reason Spencer broke up with you. When he came into the office panicked, you knew something was wrong. </p><p> </p><p>“Spence? Are you alright?” You asked him as he ran up the stairs to the briefing room.</p><p> </p><p>Spencer told the team what was going on. His new girlfriend was kidnapped, supposedly by her stalker. He was beyond stressed. His hair was a complete mess and the dark circles under his eyes were more prominent than they usually were. The team agreed to help bring her home, off the clock. </p><p> </p><p>“Hey, you alright?” Penelope asked you. </p><p> </p><p>“I’m fine,” you said. “Why wouldn’t I be? We’re rescuing a woman from her stalker, we’ve done this before.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, yeah, but it’s Reid.”</p><p> </p><p>Speaking of, Spencer came up to you, his hair more of a mess than it was before. “(Y/N). I need you to promise me something.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sure, anything Spence. What do you need?”</p><p> </p><p>“Get Maeve back safe. Please. Promise me.” His eyes shone with unshed tears. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. Yeah, I promise.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>You couldn’t fulfill your promise, though you tried. You really tried. You just weren’t fast enough. </p><p> </p><p>Spencer was distraught, as anyone would be after losing someone they loved. When he returned to work, he kept his distance from you. You thought he was the same with everyone else, until you saw him talking with Alex Blake by the coffee machine. You didn’t realize Spencer was angry at you until the team discussed the unsub and the victims still in his captivity. </p><p> </p><p>“Don’t like (Y/N) rescue the vics, she’ll just let them die anyway.”</p><p> </p><p>“Reid!”</p><p> </p><p>“Spencer, what the hell?” you said.</p><p> </p><p>“You promised you would save Maeve. And you didn’t.”</p><p> </p><p>“I did what I could! None of us could have predicted what happened!”</p><p> </p><p>“You let your jealousy get in the way, you let her die!” He fell silent for a minute before saying, “It should have been you.”</p><p> </p><p>You took a step back in shock.</p><p> </p><p>“Reid!” Hotch yelled at him a second time. </p><p> </p><p>You pursed your lips before saying, “If you think I’d let an innocent woman die because of my own emotional complications, you clearly don’t know me at all. Maybe you never did.” You turned on your heel and stormed out of the precinct. </p><p> </p><p>You sat on the step outside the building, your hot tears a stark contrast to the cool night air. When you heard the door open, you sniffled and dug the heel of your hand into your eyes, rubbing your tears away. </p><p> </p><p>Rossi sat down on the step next to you and handed you a cup of hot tea. “He didn’t mean it, you know,” he assured you.</p><p> </p><p>You looked into the steaming cup. “But he did. You didn’t see the look in his eyes, Rossi.” You rubbed your eyes with the back of your hand. “He hates me now.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m sure that’s not true,” Rossi assured you. “But if it makes you feel any better, Hotch is really ripping into him for saying those things to you.”</p><p> </p><p>You shook your head and scoffed. “It doesn’t.”</p><p> </p><p>Rossi’s lips quirked into a sympathetic smile. “How about I drive you back to the hotel? You seem like you need some rest.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Reid’s snide comments didn’t stop. They just became more discrete, and always when Rossi and Hotch weren’t around. It went on for months. It got to the point where you avoided Spencer as much as you could. </p><p> </p><p>One day, after filling out your paperwork, you walked up the stairs to Hotch’s office and knocked on the door. </p><p> </p><p>“Come in.”</p><p> </p><p>You pushed the door open. “Hey, Hotch. Can I talk to you for a minute?”</p><p> </p><p>“Sure. Is everything okay?”</p><p> </p><p>You looked out at the bullpen before you closed the door and sat down across from Hotch. You took a deep breath. “I think it’s time for me to leave the Bureau.”</p><p> </p><p>“What? Are you sure? If it’s about something with the BAU, I can talk to Strauss about transferring you-”</p><p> </p><p>“No, Hotch,” you said, giving him a sad smile. “It’s time for me to leave. Remember when Elle left and she said she used to get so excited when her phone rang, but she dreaded it towards the end? I understand that now.” You pulled the sleeves of your cardigan over your hands and gripped the cuffs in your fists. “I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I’m turning my credentials in on my way out today.”</p><p> </p><p>Hotch sighed. “Well, I can’t say we won’t miss you,” he said. </p><p> </p><p>“Could you just, uh, do me a favor? Don’t tell the team until after I’m gone? I don’t think I could face Garcia right now.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sure,” Hotch promised. “Where are you going to go?”</p><p> </p><p>You shrugged. “I don’t know. I have a Master’s in adolescent psychology, it shouldn’t be too hard to find a job.”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, we’ll be here if you need anything,” Hotch assured you. “We’re only a phone call away.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>“Where’s (L/N)?” Morgan asked when the team gathered in the conference room the next day. “She’s never this late, is she okay?”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, before we get started I need to give you all an announcement. (L/N) is no longer part of the Bureau.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?!”</p><p> </p><p>“Are you serious, Hotch?”</p><p> </p><p>“And she didn’t tell any of us?”</p><p> </p><p>Hotch held up his hand to silence the team. “She didn’t want to tell anyone because she knew you’d all get upset and try to convince her to stay.”</p><p> </p><p>“Did she say why she was leaving?” JJ asked.</p><p> </p><p>“She just said she thought it was time for her to move on,” Hotch explained. “She didn’t tell me why. But that’s her business.” He turned to Garcia. “The case?”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>You’d moved on from the BAU, and, by extension, Spencer. You found a job as a school psychologist at a nearby high school, and you went back to school to get your doctorate. Every once in a while, the team would be on the news and you would think about calling them, just to talk to them. But you never did. </p><p> </p><p>You were walking home from the convenience store on the corner of your street when someone jumped out and hit you in the head, knocking you out. </p><p> </p><p>You woke up to blinding pain behind your eyes and the smell of manure in the air. </p><p> </p><p>“Are you alright?” a rough, female voice asked as your eyes adjusted to the darkness. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright. Where am I? Where are we?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know.” You heard a chain rattle as the woman handed you a cup. “I’ve been here for days. I’m Laura.”</p><p> </p><p>“(Y/N).” You looked into the cup. “What is it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Just water,” Laura assured you. “He gives us a little bit every few days. To keep our strength up.”</p><p> </p><p>“There was a girl here before me, wasn’t there?” you asked, cautiously sipping the water. </p><p> </p><p>“Yeah. Her name was Ruth.”</p><p> </p><p>“And now that I’m here…”</p><p> </p><p>The sound of chains rattling on the barn door made the both of you look up. </p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>“Hey, I just got Hotch’s text,” Spencer said to JJ as he walked into the BAU. “What’s going on?”</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know. He just said it was an emergency.”</p><p> </p><p>They walked into the conference room where the rest of the team was already gathered. </p><p> </p><p>“What’s going on?” Spencer asked Hotch. </p><p> </p><p>“We have a high-priority case. (Y/N)’s the most recent victim.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, (Y/N) (L/N)? As in our Angelface?” Penelope asked, panic rising in her voice. </p><p> </p><p>“Unfortunately,” Hotch said. “This unsub keeps these women for about two weeks before… well…” He clicked to the next picture on the screen. “This woman was just found this morning. Laura Greenwald.” Spencer felt a lump in his throat, seeing the mutilation done to the woman. “And there was another abduction about two miles from where (Y/N) was taken. Let’s get to work.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>Your captor unchained the doors to the barn you were being held in and shoved a whimpering girl inside, her hands and wrists restrained and a burlap bag over her head. </p><p> </p><p>You walked over to her and gently pulled the sack off her head. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”</p><p> </p><p>“Who-who are you?” she asked, sniffling. Tear tracks trailed down her dirty face. “Where are we?”</p><p> </p><p>“My name is (Y/N),” you told her, untying the ropes around her hands. “I can’t say exactly where we are. I’ve been trying to figure it out since I got here.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait, how long have you been here?”</p><p> </p><p>“Days. Maybe a week? I’m not sure.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, god,” she whimpered. </p><p> </p><p>“What’s your name?”</p><p> </p><p>“Julie.”</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t worry, Julie. We’ll get out of here, and we’ll get to go home,” you promised. </p><p> </p><p>“How can you be so sure?”</p><p> </p><p>“I used to work for the FBI. The Behavioural Analysis Unit. I saw men like him all the time. He’s devolving, he’s going to get caught, and soon.” The door started creaking open again. “Just hang in until they rescue us.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>The BAU had finally tracked down the unsub holding you and were gearing up to bring him in. </p><p> </p><p>“Remember, we have to keep our heads,” Rossi said. “I know this is personal, but we can’t let our emotions get the best of us.” He made a point of looking at Spencer. </p><p> </p><p>“Alright, let’s go,” Hotch said. </p><p> </p><p>The team broke into the decrepit barn where you were being held. </p><p> </p><p>“Arthur Sumner, FBI!” Hotch yelled. “Step away from the girl!” He took off in a run through the forest. Spencer started chasing after him, full speed. “Reid!”</p><p> </p><p>Rossi walked over to where you were tied to a board, your arms above your head. You were unconscious. Rossi checked your pulse and sighed when he felt your heart still beating. “We need a medic!”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>“Where is she?” A long-haired man said, jogging down the hallway. “Where’s (Y/N)?”</p><p> </p><p>“Excuse me, sir,” Spencer said, “only family is allowed in to see Ms. (L/N) right now.”</p><p> </p><p>“I’m her goddamn fiance,” he said. “Who the hell are you?”</p><p> </p><p>Spencer’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. “I, um-”</p><p> </p><p>“We’re her family,” Rossi said, saving Spencer. </p><p> </p><p>His eyebrows furrowed. “(Y/N) doesn’t have family.”</p><p> </p><p>“Maybe not in the literal sense,” he said. “But when you work with someone for years and see the worst of humanity together, you become a family.”</p><p> </p><p>He took a step back. “You’re David Rossi,” he realized. “I’m so sorry. I’m, I’m Gavin Lucas,” he stuttered, holding his hand out to shake Rossi’s.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s nice to meet you,” Rossi said. “Come on, I’ll take you to her room. She went through a lot, so she’s heavily drugged and still unconscious.”</p><p> </p><p>Rossi and the man walked down the hallway, leaving a stunned Spencer in the waiting room. </p><p> </p><p>“She’s engaged?” he whispered to no one in particular.</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>“Agent Hotchner?” a nurse said, coming into the waiting room. “She’s awake.”</p><p> </p><p>Hotch thanked the nurse before saying, “Reid, Morgan, let’s go.” They walked into the room where you were attached to several machines with multiple casts and bandages covering your body. Gavin was sitting next to you, holding your hand. </p><p> </p><p>Morgan grabbed the second chair in the room and moved it next to the bed. “Hey, Angelface,” he said. “How you feeling?”</p><p> </p><p>“Like shit,” you told him with a huff of a laugh. </p><p> </p><p>Gavin squeezed your hand. “I’m never letting you out of my sight again,” he promised.</p><p> </p><p>“Speaking of, if you’re her fiance, why didn’t you report her missing? Why was the landlord the one to report it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Reid,” Hotch warned. </p><p> </p><p>“I was in Europe,” Gavin said, narrowing his eyes. “I take my AP students on a trip there every year.”</p><p> </p><p>“Wait a minute, you go every year? Do you go at the same time every year?” Hotch asked. </p><p> </p><p>“Roughly,” he said. “It’s always after Easter break.”</p><p> </p><p>“Would you mind talking with us a bit? This changes our profile.”</p><p> </p><p>“Sure.” Gavin kissed the back of your hand before following Hotch and Morgan out of the room, leaving you with Spencer. Thankfully, you weren’t left alone with him for long. </p><p> </p><p>Garcia ran into the room, a giant gift basket in her arms, obscuring her face. “JJ told me you were awake.” She set the basket down and took Gavin’s empty seat. “She also told me you have a fiance. You better explain why you didn’t tell me anything about him. Who is he? What’s he like? How’d you meet? When did he propose?”</p><p> </p><p>You smiled at Penelope. “His name is Gavin, he’s a high school history teacher. We met at the end of my first year at the school. I was going around to all the AP classes and telling the students my office was open if they were feeling stressed. Apparently he had a crush on me and his students knew, so they schemed ways to get him to ask me out.”</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, that’s so cute,” Penelope said.</p><p> </p><p>“He proposed right before New Year’s,” you said. “We went ice skating and he proposed while we were out on the rink.”</p><p> </p><p>While you and Penelope were catching up, Spencer slipped out of the room, making his way back to the waiting room. </p><p> </p><p>“You alright, kid?” Morgan asked when he saw Spencer’s face.</p><p> </p><p>Spencer flopped into the uncomfortable upholstered chair. “(Y/N)’s engaged.” He hid his face in his hands. “She’s engaged.”</p><p> </p><p>“Yeah, she is.” Morgan sat next to Spencer.</p><p> </p><p>He looked up at Morgan. “I still love her.”</p><p> </p><p>“What?”</p><p> </p><p>“I thought I was over her. I thought I was in love with Maeve. But I’m still in love with (Y/N).”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, Reid,” Morgan said, “you broke up with her. And she moved on. She’s happy. Isn’t that the most important thing?”</p><p> </p><p>Spencer chewed his lip. After a while, he said, “I guess you’re right.”</p><p> </p><p>~</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” -Dr. Seuss</p>
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